Originally published in the January 2009 issue from an interview on October 14, 2008

A promising young ballplayer, Hamilton missed three seasons while struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. He returned to baseball in 2006, made the majors in 2007, and made the All-Star team in 2008, his first season as a Ranger.

She's eight weeks. She's a good baby, too. Our middle one, the last one we had, just screamed all the time -- bad reflux. And I was out doing what I was doing, and Katie was there by herself with her. So I feel blessed that this one is real quiet. Doesn't cry hardly at all.

I'm out there, and I'm waking up with nature -- I'm in a tree, and I got birds landing on limbs beside me not even knowing I'm there, and deer walking underneath me not knowing I'm there. That's part of it -- being there and no one knows you're there.

You get a little adrenaline rush and your heart starts beating a little faster when you see something with horns. And you shoot it and it's just like you're shaking.

My dad said, "I can't understand somebody wanting to get up five o'clock in the morning, go sit in a tree, the wind blowing up your butt, freezing to death -- I ain't never understood it."

Dip -- I'm quitting in January. After hunting season's over. You don't mind if I put one in, do you? Good. It's wintergreen. Flavored. Can't do the straight stuff.

My lip's about to fall off, that's the main reason.

The media helps hold me accountable, more than they realize. They don't realize me telling my story and getting it out there helps me stay clean, helps me want to do good all the time.

I hate disappointing people.

With the Rangers, somebody'd have a walk-off home run or whatever, they'd have beer showers. I had a Mountain Dew shower. I would shower the guys with beer or whatever, and they'd make me put my fingers over my face, and they all would watch me -- they genuinely cared. They said, "Ain't nothing touch your lips, did it?" Just messing around with me.

I want to get across to kids that you can't expect to use drugs or alcohol and come back from it. You can't expect that. Because it's hard to do. I don't want to give them the impression, "Well, he did it."

The cocaine gave me that adrenaline rush. It was easy to keep doing it when I was away from baseball. Because not throwing somebody out -- not hearing that crowd build up, and then the play happens and they erupt -- that's why I kept going back to it and kept going back to it and kept going back to it.

For me to have done all that to my body for those four years, not doing nothing but tearing it down, and for God to allow me to keep the ability he gave me...I remember one time, I took -- in two days I took fifty-six Ecstasy pills. For a month after that, I'd get bad headaches and couldn't drive at night because headlights hurt my eyes. For that to correct itself, and to be 20/10 -- how can you explain that?

They got so much statistics nowadays that they have books on the pitchers -- everything you could need to prepare yourself. All I need to know is what pitches he throws and how hard he throws them.

You can tell when you hit it whether it's gone or not. The ones that go the farthest you don't feel.

My favorite guys growing up were Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn, and Paul O'Neill. It wasn't only how they played but how they carried themselves. When you see me hit a home run, I'm hauling butt.

When I left baseball, I started going to the mall and getting the biggest shoes they had there. I'm a 16 now. That's a big foot.

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